Day 8 Slice of Life – puzzle time

I am here to write and it is not really all that late but the day was a busy one that included a lot of mental work. It was or still is a puzzle day. I don’t know how I did it when I was teaching, Those days were filled with organizing students, curriculum and behavior. Every move was a puzzle in those days. The puzzle was multiplied by 30 young bodies moving, thinking and dodging the work in from of them.

Today I only had one two year old added to the puzzle of construction design. I should have been able to do this and I did but it is now 8:00 pm and I am ready to shut down for the night and go read my book. But I promised myself I would write daily so here I am droopy eyed, brain a bit fried but I am here.

The day started with the plumber coming to sort out the redesign for the new basement bathroom. It seemed like a simple task to add a shower into a wide open space. Ah, but there it is the puzzle we need to solve. Although the walls are down there are city codes we must follow, the size of each item (sink, toilet, shower), and the fact that part of this area turns out to be under the stairs with a low ceiling.

The plumber, a nice and very knowledgable man, had one idea in his head. It was the basement that fits a 1950’s house. My idea was to bring the 72 year old house up to 2022 in design or at least close to it. I listened and he drew out his ideas in the dusty mess of the floor.

We tried. We started again. He was determined the old laundry sink by the washing machine needed to stay. He could not understand why I did not want the washing machine to drain into that sink. I wanted that big ugly sink gone and the washing machine needs to have a dedicated drain.

area to be rebuilt

We settled on a possible plan and off he went. This plan had a lot of great parts to it and at first I thought yes the ugly sink is still there but we have the bathroom. BUT – as I thought it out more and looked at where the sink was (under the steps) it was clear that my 6 foot 2.5 inch tall son was not going to be able to stand up straight in this space. Which means his wife who is just as tall won’t be able to stand and put her make up on or fix her hair. And wait, that is a big part of redoing this basement. They live out of town and when they come to town they stay with us. We wanted and need a nice guest bedroom and this is going to be it. It means that bathroom needs to work for tall people.

Darn, I now had some new ideas, I knew what could or could not be moved in terms of pipes and heating stuff. So I measured, drew out another design. I FaceTimed my son and we worked out another idea. I drew it out and was excited. I think I have it. I let my contractor know I had a new and, I thought, workable plan I would share with him tomorrow. Yeah!!!

Then my daughter came to get Little Man – remember I was also matching alphabet letters, playing in the snow and teaching a 2.5 year old to cut paper. (He has training scissors that we have started to work with and he loves. He calls it “cut, cut. crawl”. It is what I say as we are cutting. We cut and move forward. Cut, cut, crawl. ) Anyway we went down to check out the basement and the minute I walked into the bathroom area I knew the plan my son and I had worked out was off and would not work.

I did not have a full set of measurements when we talked on the phone. My heart sank. Again I had new information, new ideas from my daughter and there I was again starting all over.

Husband and I had dinner out since I needed to get away from the house for awhile and just think. I returned and began again with my measuring tape in had, my graph paper and pencil. I have spend another 2 and half hours trying again.

I think I am closer. I think it will work. I have a drawing for the bathroom and the laundry room. The ugly sink is going to have to leave. It just does not work in this drawing. (The plumber may not like it but hay, I am the one living with it.)

So now we wait and sleep. Tomorrow I will meet with my contractor and see what he has to say.

I know if I had hired an architect to draw out plans I might have not had these issue but all I was doing was pumping out a little wall and adding a shower. Now we are into a total redesign. Lesson learned. I just hope I have not landed us way over budget.

We will see what tomorrow brings!

Sleep well everyone!

If you look closely you can see the ugly sink next to the old washing machine. The area to the left of this was a bathroom and now hopefully one day it will be a bathroom with a shower.